Aggies should just man up, create a network to call their own

Friday

The Longhorn Network opened its doors to the local media on Thursday, just months after opening Pandora's box.

The studios look slick and professional. The talent is, well, talented and photogenic. The operation, first-class in every way. The control booth? Think Bristol West.

Like the network itself, which is still seven days from launch date, the setup is an unfinished project. Even the ceiling tiles are missing at the Longhorn Network site on the old Concordia campus, revealing air conditioning ducts.

But the ESPN tour guide said, "I think we'll get 'em some day."

Why bother? There is no metaphorical ceiling for the Longhorn Network, which is both good and bad.

Good in that the University of the Joneses will make a fortune. Good in that every Texas sport from rowing to cross country will get new, ground-breaking visibility. Good in that a lucky Big 12 team will get tremendous exposure when the LN announces a second football game.

"We're very sensitive to the issue raised by (Texas) A&M, and we totally buy into the fact it has to be a win-win situation," ESPN veep Burke Magnus said. "We're not going to twist anyone's arms."

The bad?

The same revelation that a second home game will be broadcast once an agreement is reached with another team. It will open fresh wounds that haven't come close to healing.

Also, his announcement that ESPN hopes to show high school football highlights on the Longhorn Network — after being rebuffed by the Big 12 and the NCAA on its desire to broadcast high school games — will undoubtedly create more ill will at a time when Texas A&M prays for an invitation to the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12's future looks shaky at best.

It's hard to blame Texas for having the wherewithal and desire to start its own network and reap $15 million a year off it for the next 20 years. It's not the Longhorns' fault they've won four national championships in football and two Heisman trophies, and are one of the most recognizable brands from Rome, Italy to Paris, Texas.

And Texas isn't alone in this. Kansas State just announced it's starting its own digital network. Oklahoma wants to. Magnus said Missouri's looking into it.

So is Notre Dame, which is interesting since that could facilitate it joining the Big 12, no matter what A&M does, because the Big Ten Network supposedly would preclude it from taking Notre Dame with a Notre Dame network. The Big 12 could accept the Irish.

Texas A&M should start its own network, too. Lots of Aggies out there.

"The opportunities are just huge for each (Big 12) institution," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. "I think as time goes by, we'll all learn how to better those opportunities and get past somebody having a network. I think in 30 years, the Big 12 will look smart for doing it this way."

We all know that any epitaph for the Big 12 would include the Longhorn Network near the top of the tombstone. But the Aggies, as I understand it, want to go to the SEC mostly because of the financial disparity and growing chasm in money and influence between the Longhorns and everyone else in the league, and because of the instability of the Big 12.

Count me as one who'd like the Aggies to man up and beat the Longhorns at their own game. Start your own network and compete on the field. You're doing a pretty good job of that lately. Why douse all that momentum and undo a century's worth of tradition and history?

On the other issue, the Aggies are the ones causing the instability of the league. None of the other nine teams are casting eyes elsewhere.

That's rightfully ticked off the rest of the conference and even threatened to make Texas a sympathetic figure in all this. And that takes some doing.

The league knew Texas was launching its own network a year ago when the other nine teams agreed to stick together. Like it or not, the creation of the Longhorn Network allowed Texas to lead the charge in rejecting the Pac-10's invitation and remain with the Big 12. Had it not, six Big 12 schools would be in the Pac-16 Conference today, A&M might have joined Texas or gone to the SEC, and Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State would have been left to fend for themselves.

For all the money Texas makes, it's still not winning national championships in every sport every year, last I checked. Or any sport besides swimming since 2005, for that matter.

Think of it this way, Aggies: Even the Longhorn Network couldn't gloss over a 5-7 season.

kbohls@statesman.com; 445-3772

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